Richard Widmark, who made an indelible screen debut in 1947 as a giggling sadistic killer and later brought a sense of urban cynicism and unpredictability to his roles as a leading man, has died. He was 93. Widmark died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn., after a long illness, his wife, Susan Blanchard, said Wednesday. She said injuries Widmark suffered in a fall last year were the beginning of his illness. "His creative work is indelible on film and will be there to remind us of what he was as an artist and a human being," said Sidney Poitier, who acted with Widmark in three films.

Jules Dassin ATHENS, Greece -- Jules Dassin, an American director, screenwriter and actor who found success making movies in Europe after he was blacklisted in the United States because of his earlier ties to the Communist Party, died Monday in Athens, where he had lived since the 1970s. He was 96. A spokeswoman for Hygeia Hospital confirmed his death but did not give a cause. Dassin is most widely remembered for films he made after he fled Hollywood in the 1950s, including Never on Sunday, with the Greek actress Melina Mercouri, whom he later married; Topkapi, with Mercouri, Peter Ustinov and Maximilian Schell; and the 1955 French thriller Rififi.

Night and the City is a highly atmospheric and quality London film noir that follows an American scam artist as he tries to get to the top of the wrestling underworld with disastrous consequences for himself. The 1950 production was director JULES DASSIN's last American film for several years. He was forced into exile in Europe during the McCarthy-era witch hunt of the 1940s and 1950s. Dassin was hired by 20th Century Fox production chief DARRYL F. ZANUCK to direct the film noir classic despite the fact that Zanuck was being pressured by studio brass not to hire Dassin, who was under assault by the House Un-American Activities Committee during its investigation into alleged communism in the film industry.

Richard Widmark, who made an indelible screen debut in 1947 as a giggling sadistic killer and later brought a sense of urban cynicism and unpredictability to his roles as a leading man, has died. He was 93. Widmark died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn., after a long illness, his wife, Susan Blanchard, said Wednesday. She said injuries Widmark suffered in a fall last year were the beginning of his illness. "His creative work is indelible on film and will be there to remind us of what he was as an artist and a human being," said Sidney Poitier, who acted with Widmark in three films.

EDWARD CHODOROV, 84, a Broadway playwright who also wrote or produced about 50 films, has died after a brief illness. The movies Chodorov wrote or produced included The Story of Louis Pasteur, for which Paul Muni won an Oscar; The Hucksters, starring Clark Gable; and Road House with Ida Lupino and Richard Widmark.

Night and the City is a highly atmospheric and quality London film noir that follows an American scam artist as he tries to get to the top of the wrestling underworld with disastrous consequences for himself. The 1950 production was director JULES DASSIN's last American film for several years. He was forced into exile in Europe during the McCarthy-era witch hunt of the 1940s and 1950s. Dassin was hired by 20th Century Fox production chief DARRYL F. ZANUCK to direct the film noir classic despite the fact that Zanuck was being pressured by studio brass not to hire Dassin, who was under assault by the House Un-American Activities Committee during its investigation into alleged communism in the film industry.

Out of the witch-hunting 1950s came former crime reporter SAMUEL FULLER's cult thriller Pickup on South Street (1953), a nationalistic Class-A "B" movie about a petty thief who pinches a woman's wallet and finds himself embroiled in espionage. In the film's wordlessly erotic opening scene, a smartly dressed pickpocket (RICHARD WIDMARK) and a voluptuous dame (JEAN PETERS) jiggle face to face on a packed subway train. While their eyes engage in a wonderfully nuanced flirtation dance, he stealthily uses his newspaper for cover as his fingers open her white purse and lift her wallet.